Fifty people have died in a Boeing passenger plane crash in the city of Kazan in central Russia.

The jet, a Boeing 737 belonging to Tatarstan Airlines, bound from Moscow to Kazan, with 44 passengers and six crew on board, crashed at about 19:30 Moscow Time (1530 GMT).

Initially, 44 fatalities were reported in the crash.

As confirmed Irek Minnikhanov, son of Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, was among the passengers killed in the accident. The death toll includes the republic’s head of Federal Security Service, Aleksandr Antonov, too.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Minnikhanov on the phone, expressing his condolences to relatives and friends of the deceased, and to the Tatarstan leader personally.

A day of mourning has been set for the killed passengers on November 18.

Authorities and the airline’s insurance company will pay compensation of around US$93,700 to each of the victims' families.